Fairytales don't lie
by Cate-Deriana
Summary: Bedtime story time.


_**A small story I wrote for the ichirukimonth but missed to post till now. It was so hard to write this and I really thought I couldn't do this, but here it is and I love it - hope you guys will too.**_

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"Once upon a time there was a half-blooded prince. He was half human and half shinigami and his hair was as sparkling as the sun. However he didn't know of his lineage. He was able to see ghosts as long as he could remember. He could see them, talk to them, he could even touch them, but that was everything he was capable of. He couldn't do a thing to help them. Although he had no idea what happened to them when they suddenly disappeared, he knew that some of them didn't leave for good. As time passed his will became stronger. He had lost his mother at a young age and so felt the need to train hard to protect his family. But how was he, a normal human supposed to really gain enough strength to do that? He wished to have power, he wished to reach those wandering souls and protect them, he wished for a blade to crush fate.

His wish was granted when one day a shinigami stepped into his life. She was a noble, the princess of a royal house with hair as dark as the night and eyes as bright as the moon. They were complete opposites at first sight: He was tall, she was short. He was like summer, she was like winter. He was day, she was night. But if you looked closer, deeper you could see how much they were alike.

It was one fateful night they met, when a hollow attacked his family and she came to their rescue. As a shinigami it was her duty to protect humans and fight hollows but was it really because of that she threw herself in front of him to save him? She got wounded and as she herself wasn't able to defeat the hollow on her own she was left with only one choice. It was prohibited by law, a sin to transfer shinigami powers to a human, she knew that, but faced with both their deaths otherwise, she pierced her sword through his chest, making him a shinigami, giving him the power he had always longed for.

As she had lost her powers to him, she was forced to stay in the world of the living with him. What started as an accidental encounter soon became a close friendship. He was taking over her duties as a shinigami and she was teaching him everything she knew – about a world he had never heard about – about Soul Society, where she came from. They grew together as a team, as two people who trusted each other from the bottom of their hearts. But their secret, her crime was soon found out by Soul Society.

But this is a story for tomorrow evening."

She closed the book on her lap and gained a frowning look from her left.

"You're stopping _there_? Really?" His voice was a mixture of annoyance and bewilderment.

"This is what you call a cliffhanger." she proudly declared.

"You're just a bad storyteller that's all." he wanted to start a rant but was interrupted midway.

"Nooo, I want to hear what happened to them _now_!" Tatsuya whined.

Ichigo patted Rukia's shoulder with a hint of sarcasm: "You don't want to make our son cry by refusing him the rest of the story, do you?"

She huffed: "Well if you don't like my storytelling skills why don't _you_ continue?" He wanted to retort something but was cut off before even opening his mouth.

"God, but spare us the details, just give us the short version." Yuki had crossed her arms in front of her chest and was visibly annoyed – you could tell by the way she furrowed her brows just the way her father did when he was slightly pissed. "I'm too old for bedtime stories." she mumbled to herself, shaking her head.

Rukia leaned over to her husband, whispering: "She got that from you – always spoiling the mood."

"Che."

He would ignore her remark, for the time being.

"Alright, then I'll continue the story." Ichigo sighed, pondering for a moment about his word choice when the 'book' plopped onto his lap.

"You'll need the _book_ … to tell the story, Ichigo." Rukia stated matter-of-factly.

He looked at her incredulously, then looked at the book: "I _don't_ , I _know_ the story."

"Then _tell_ us!" Tatsuya looked at his father expectantly.

"And hurry, Tatsuya needs to go to bed!" Yuki casually threw into the room, trying to hide her impatience.

"The short version, ok here we go: So two evil shinigami arrived to take the princess back to Soul Society where she should atone for her sins. They told her she would be killed for breaking the rules – as it was regulated by law. The human boy wanted to stop them from taking her away from him, but again his powers weren't enough and he lost them on the battlefield. He wasn't able to protect her and had to watch her being dragged away through a giant gate – into a world, where she would be dying.

Now only a mere human again he had to face probably the biggest obstacle in his life. He wanted to go, save her, bring her back but he didn't know how. He didn't even know how to get to Soul Society. But then a mysterious candy shop owner appeared in front of him: 'Do you want to save her from the bottom of your heart? Then there is a way, for you to become a shinigami once again, because love conquers all.'

The boy didn't have to think about it twice so he accepted the help of the shop keeper and became his apprentice. He went through hell to get his powers back, trained for seven days until he was strong enough to leave for her rescue.

No matter how strong his enemies were, no matter how many scars he gained, nothing and no one was able to stop him, because the boy had sworn to his soul to save her even if he had to pass through one hundred million blades. It wasn't to repay a debt, not because she was the one to save _his life_ in the first place, he just wanted to see her smile again. So he arrived, just in time at her execution, right in front of her and stopped the blazing monster that was about to kill her. He stopped the beast with his sword – with the power that was gained for her sake.

It was his actions, _their_ actions that made Soul Society change, although they had stuck to their rules that were older than history itself. It was decided that the boy would officially stay a shinigami and would be responsible to protect the souls in the human world. When the boy had finally recovered from his battles and was able to meet her face to face after such a long time, she told him she was going to stay in Soul Society and not come back with him. He would have liked to object, but when he saw her smile he knew he wasn't allowed to drag her back to his world if she was happy in her own. They had to part again, but this time they knew they would meet each other again, because… they were connected by the red string of fate."

"And… what _happened_ to them?" The little dark haired boy seemed a bit unsatisfied with the ending his father had told them.

Ichigo's thoughts came back to the presence after reminiscing about their story. It was hard to believe that about twenty years had already passed since their first meeting. He looked over to his son: "Oh… yeah they…" then looked over to Rukia: "They married and had kids."

" _Aaaand_?" they boy intervened again, begging to hear the final sentence that was supposed to come.

Rukia couldn't help but smile: " _And_ … they lived happily ever after."

"That was a great fairytale!" he exclaimed, finally content with the outcome.

"You're so stupid. That wasn't a _fairytale_. That was the story how mum and dad met. Didn't you notice?" Yuki rolled her eyes.

Rukia suddenly switched to her poor acting skill voice: "No, no, no. Things like that don't happen in real life." It was obvious she wasn't really trying to convince anybody with that, she just wanted to keep the fairytale magic for her son.

Ichigo looked at her, slightly frowning: "Yeah, things like that don't happen in real life." A small smile formed on his lips: "But fairytales don't lie."


End file.
